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Identity and learning are explicitly related, with the former playing a major role in determining how and what we learn. This paper provides a framework for practitioners that helps to make identity work explicit in the design of education and training programs.

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Adults use all sorts of resources in their learning events. For example, they might use a computer, a book or a face-to-face interaction with a colleague. An elusive component of learning events - another of these resources - has been shown to be the identities of the learning participants. These identities are key to influencing the effectiveness of the learning outcomes. Some researchers identify the importance of the role of identity as an aspect of social capital development in workplace learning communities of practice. Others, such as Falk and Kilpatrick (2000) refer to ‘identity resources’ as a component of social capital building and learning. However, the articulation of the rather general term ‘identity’ remains incomplete. What is required is to identify the kinds of identity resources that are called into play in interactions and what this might mean for VET [vocational education and training] learning. This paper provides a framework for practitioners that helps make identity work explicit in the design of VET programs.

Published abstract reprinted by the permission of the copyright owner.

The volumes from which this paper is taken are indexed from TD/TNC 77.351 to TD/TNC 77.353. Individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 77.354 to TD/TNC 77.437. Show less

This chapter reports on the results of a research project examining the complex relationships between 'integrated' numeracy and literacy skills, self-confidence, and the place of skills, knowledge and values in the learning process. As all agricultural products in the near future will need to be quality assured for the export market, this study examines the case of beef producers in Australia undertaking training in Quality Assurance (QA). The key questions are: (1) How can farmers become more effective learners?; and (2) How can their uptake of training, assumed to be a pathway to accreditation, be multiplied? The chapter examines the nature and role of 'self-confidence' in the learning process, shows how self-confidence relates to the need for suitable literacy and numeracy skills, and discusses the relative importance of self-confidence, numeracy and literacy skills, knowledge and values in the overall learning processes in this instance of vocational education and training.

The monograph from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 69.251; selected chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 69.252 to TD/TNC 69.261. Show less

Social capital assists in building economically and socially viable and sustainable learning communities, where communities can be geographic communities, professional or common interest communities, and groups of businesses such as Executive Link, the subject of this article. This article investigates the elements of social capital and develops a set of indicators that show social capital is being built. Executive Link consists of farm businesses which meet for non-formal training. It appears to have features of a learning community, including a shared purpose, and learning interactions across the boundaries of individual member businesses. This article identifies networks, commitments and shared values as the elements of social capital which contribute to the quality of learning interactions. Indicators of social capital building are suggested to be development of a shared language, shared experiences, building trust, self-development and fostering an identification with the community. [A similar paper by the authors on this topic is indexed at TD/TAS 54.06].

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This paper poses the notion that the degree to which something new is learned is the degree to which the valued new and contextualised discursive behaviours are demonstrated. It is further argued that the most common manner in which learning is assessed as having been achieved is through matching of learner discourses with what is in the teacher’s mind. The conclusion is formulated that critical (post-compulsory) education and training education in practice must include discursive education for re-constructive and therefore self-directed learning. Show less

This book discusses four theoretical aspects of vocational learning that support understanding of vocational learning processes and practices: the situations of vocational learning; the power and roles of social networks and identity in vocational learning; knowing and knowledge management processes; and the implications for pedagogic practices in both informal and formal technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems. It provides examples of innovative approaches to vocational education theory and practice, including insights into aspects of TVET for Indigenous peoples, and discusses policy implications for Europe, North America and Australia. After an introductory chapter entitled ‘Introduction: innovations in theory and practice’ by Ralph Catts, Ian Falk and Ruth Wallace, the book is presented in four parts. Part one, ‘Theoretical aspects of vocational learning’, contains: Social partnerships in learning: connecting to the learner identities of disenfranchised regional learners / Ruth Wallace; Where ‘the TVET system’ meets the performativity of vocational learning: borderlands of innovation and future directions / Ian Falk and Kaler Surata; Constructing learners as members of networks / Jo Balatti and Stephen Black; Competence as collective process / Nick Boreham. Part two, ‘Cross-cultural perspectives of vocational learning’, contains: Indigenous Dot Com: e-learning in Australian indigenous workforce development and engagement / Ruth Wallace and Rhonda Appo; Vocational learning by native Americans in the USA / Cornelia Butler Flora and Mary Emery; TVET identities in knowledge work: gender and learning in a globalized industry / Irene Malcolm. Part three, ‘Vocational learning practice’, contains: New forms of learning in German TVET: theoretical remarks and empirical results / Michael Gohlich and Nicolas Schopf; Good practice models for using TVET to address skill shortages: a case study from health / Sue Kilpatrick, Susan Johns, Patricia Millar, Georgina Routley and Quynh Le; Vocational education pedagogy and the situated practices of teaching core skills / Roy Canning; Literacies in the learning careers of students / Richard Edwards and Kate Miller. Part four, ‘Looking ahead’, contains: Vocational learning in the frame of a developing identity / John Guenther; Mature adult learning and employment / Ralph Catts; Learning in working life: identity and workplace learning / John Field; The impact of self-perception and vocational learning / Larry Smith and Margaret King; Vocational learning futures / Ralph Catts, Ian Falk and Ruth Wallace. Show less

This article focuses on the regional nodule of a ‘community’ in order to expand the basis for using understandings about the nature of learning principles and practice to bring about change for sustainability in regional areas. More, it teases out possible components of what it might mean to create a ‘learning community’ as a possible alternative to, or to supplement, traditional indicators of well-being such as ‘unemployment’. Show less